16 Reasons Why I Am A #FarmersForYes

18th May 2018 by Lorna
24 comments
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The referendum to repeal the 8th Amendment is coming up in a week’s time. I will be voting yes. I started this post thinking I’d come up with eight reasons. I stopped at 16 but I could have kept going.

16 Reasons to Vote Yes

I am voting YES because I have never had an unplanned pregnancy. All five pregnancies were planned. I am one of the lucky ones. I never had to make that choice. I feel for women who have had to travel to get the treatment they needed.

I am voting YES because I had two healthy and normal pregnancies but they still seemed like they went on forever.  I can’t imagine the torment of having to continue with an unwanted pregnancy.

I am voting YES because I am healthy, I don’t have a life-threatening condition whereby a pregnancy could finish me off. I don’t take medication that would have to be stopped if I became pregnant. I am one of the lucky ones. Not everyone is lucky.

Together for Yes

I am voting YES because I had three miscarriages. I am one of the lucky ones. My foetuses expelled themselves. They didn’t linger, the heartbeats didn’t keep beating and put my life at risk. I never thought I would say I was lucky because I had three miscarriages. Other women, like this lady, had to travel to the UK for life-saving terminations because the foetus still had a beating heart even though all the amniotic fluid was gone and there was no chance of it surviving.

I am voting YES because I endured 18 months of depression after my miscarriages. Women who want to consider a termination because of a fatal foetal abnormality or any other reason need care and compassion. They need to bury their children here, not have them delivered by a courier. Anything that helps to prevent depression or makes the loss of a child that tiny little bit easier is essential.

I am voting YES because I am a farmer. I know things can go wrong in pregnancies. As a farmer, it is my responsibility to ensure our livestock have the best of medical attention should they need it. My cows get more care and compassion than a pregnant woman in crisis in Ireland.

I am voting YES because I am a mother. My son and daughter are the most important things in the world to me. I would fight to the death to protect them. My daughter is much more important to me than an unborn foetus and I will not have her living in a country where her safety comes second. Yes, it is supposed to be equal with the foetus under current legislation but as it has been so tragically proved, the medics don’t act until the mother’s life is at risk and then it is sometimes too late to save her. I don’t want to have to tell her to emigrate to ensure she has proper healthcare for any pregnancies. But I will.

I am voting YES because I know that if I had had a pregnancy with a fatal foetal abnormality, my choices would have been different depending on my stage of life. If it had happened before I had my miscarriages, I’d imagine I would have wanted to terminate. If it had happened after the miscarriages, I would have wanted to keep that baby alive inside of me, to spend whatever moments I could with it, to have a funeral, to give it a name, to have memories. I am the same person. That decision is not a ‘one size fits all’. Having choice would have make that horrendous decision a little bit easier. It’s a basic human right.

I am voting YES because Irish people have been controlled for too long. Ireland was a colony for centuries. Then its population was controlled by the State and the Church, resulting in babies being sold abroad, children being abused and dead orphans being buried in septic tanks. The NO campaign is about controlling women and their wombs. The NO campaign is pro birth, not pro life. Irish women deserve better and they deserve freedom to choose.

I am voting YES because if the current situation continues, it will not stop abortions happening. The taking of illegal medication, the travelling to another country, the lack of care and compassion for women in this country has to stop. Women deserve better.

I am voting YES because women are taking medication to bring about early terminations. It is only a matter of time before a woman in a rural farmhouse bathroom or a city apartment could lose her life by being too scared to go to a hospital if there are complications.

I am voting YES because the behaviour of the NO campaigners on Claire Byrne Live the other night was appalling: the clapping, the mocking, the catcalling, the whooping, the scorn on respected doctors like Dr Peter Boylan. Any woman who had experienced a termination, a miscarriage or was in a crisis pregnancy must have been traumatised watching it. Did the NO campaigners offer any help or counselling to those affected? No. Who did? Yes, that’s right, the YES campaigners did.

I am voting YES because if the NO campaign wins, we might as well rename Ireland as Gilead and let the last person leaving switch off the lights.

I am voting YES because I want to remain proud to be Irish, not ashamed. There has been widespread abuse of children. Young children today are homeless. Let’s have a healthcare system to be proud of.

I am voting YES because I trust women.

I am voting YES in the memory of Savita. I am voting YES for my daughter and all women.

16 reasons to vote YES to #Repealthe8th Click To Tweet

Please Vote YES. You won’t be stopping a heartbeat as abortions will continue to happen. By voting YES, you will be playing a small part in helping women get good healthcare with compassion in their own country. You may be saving women’s lives. Please Vote YES on 25th May.

 

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24 thoughts on “16 Reasons Why I Am A #FarmersForYes”

  • Diana

    The bit about treating the livestock better is exactly the point my brother made when I had a baby with a fatal foetal abnormality. Thank you for great post! #farmerswife&sisterforyes

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  • Evie

    Such a powerful piece Lorna, well done you for writing it. I’m worried too, but as someone said on Twitter this week, regardless of the outcome, there’s no going back now. Ireland can’t go back, we won’t let it x

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    • Lorna Post author

      Exactly, we can’t go back to the dark ages. I’m feeling positive, a lot of farmers are liking and sharing my tweets etc and they’d be traditionally thought of as no voters.

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  • Elaine Rogers

    I have literally just heard of the referendum. Unfortunately, the moment I left Irish soil 5 years ago, I lost my right to vote on anything. I am a childless woman who never had a pregnancy or needed any kind of gynie care or treatment.
    I am appalled at the chance of a NO vote next week. And I have even read the referendum.
    It’s sad Poeple even have to make a case for a yes vote. It’s sad that people even have to rally together and work for a yes vote. It’s sad that the Irish population still need to be educated on women’s basic rights. Over their own bodies. It’s a basic right and we should have the right and control to make our own decisions, good or bad. End of.
    There should be no need for a referendum. It should be a given that we can decide as we see fit, we have access to due care, and we have access to the proper treatment and respect to take our babies and give them the respect they deserve (proper burial amongst kin).
    The way I see it, the only reason a no vote is possible is from misinformation -from the undecided and the misinformed not knowing any better. Surely the NO voters are few and far between (albeit with influence) this also demonstrates the true state of our country despite Celtic tigers, an apparently superb education system, and the Irish being well travelled. What have we really learned as a country?
    I’ll be panicking for another deadline on 25th but will be hoping for a positive result in my home country.
    Thank you for a wonderful piece Lorna, you are a true spokeswoman for rural Ireland (and not just for women) and all those women who have been mis treated and disrespected and deprived of their basic rights.

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    • Lorna Post author

      Thank you Elaine, I know, it’s hard to believe that so many people are campaigning for a no vote in 2018 and to be honest, the campaign posters and tactics are distasteful as well as distressing. I am feeling more positive about a Yes vote winning but I’m still anxious.

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  • Suzanne G

    Thanks for putting this together Lorna. It breaks it down so simply and compassionately. I’ve shared it on my social platforms for others to read. I’m trying to stay positive too in hoping for a yes vote. It’s time Ireland starts respecting mná na hEireann, the women of Ireland.

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  • Patricia Feldwick

    Thank you Lorna for a well-written piece that comprehensively covers so many of the very good reasons for voting YES. Like so many people, I am sick of the l misinformation, hyperbole and downright lies being propagated by the NO side, the deliberately falsified poster images and the often vile abuse being heaped on anyone who dares to call them out on the inaccuracy of their statements. I am seriously concerned that the lies, distortions and attempted moral blackmail may result in a NO vote, which would ultimately be a lose-lose result for every woman in Ireland well into the foreseeable future. We must keep on countering their lies with truth, their falsehoods with facts, for the sake of our daughters and their daughters, for all time to come

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  • Lisa Walsh

    Thank you Lorna. I’m so glad that we do have that choice in America and that my daughter will have that choice if, God Forbid, she ever needs it. I’m so worried for Ireland and so wish I was there to vote.

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    • Lorna Post author

      Oh, I’m thinking positive for a win for the YES campaign but then I’ll hear something on the radio or television, and get worried again. I can’t bear to think of an Ireland under a NO campaign think tank. I think it is going to be close which is why we need to keep campaigning and talking. There’s still a lot of undecided voters out there.

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  • Margaret McGee

    Thank you for posting this piece. Its honest and practical, two things I like to think I am myself. It puts across so many thoughts in a succinct and straight forward manner. Im voting yes for those reasons and as you said many more. I have daughters, a mother, sisters and girlfriends. I love the women in my life and I dont want to lose any of them or see them traumatised for life following serious crisis pregnancies. Thank you.

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    • Lorna Post author

      Thank you Margaret, I’m actually feeling quite scared that the NO campaign will win. We have to keep working at it. I’ve ordered badges and will be very sociable next week, wearing them everywhere.

      Reply →

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